So the shiro utsuri fetish continues. Today was the Upper Midwest Koi Club’s fall auction and I was not planning on buying any koi. In fact, I put 16 koi into the auction to thin out the number of koi we would have going into winter. One of the koi club members says “I hear you like shiro utsuris…I have one that I brought to the auction.” Well I thought about it for about three minutes, asked a few questions and filled out a check. So Nora, the new shiro utsuri came home to be our mother hen in the lower pond.

The lower pond with perfect water parameters was emptied this morning – we had been using it to house all the koi going to the auction. The pond digger was in the pond at 7:00 am catching the koi to be transported. The lower pond will be used for shiro utsuris and we’re thinking that Nora, being a large koi, will be a calming influence. At the end of the day, Nora is either playful, annoyed or a bully. I have seen her chasing many of the smaller koi around the pond. If she keeps this up, she’ll have to move to the larger, upper pond. Along with the three shiro utsuris (Sumiko, Ika and Blackhawk), we have a platinum ogon (Squamish), a kin kumonryu (Jet Li, the pond digger calls this koi Token) and two goshikis (London and Rome). The lower pond seems to be a better place for the very small koi.

Goshiki and goromo koi are also interesting to me right now. The goshiki koi is another one that can change many times over the years. I had a beautiful one last year called Hato who unfortunately got trapped in some ice and froze (all the koi will come in this year). I purchased two new goshiki, London and Rome and you can see that Rome has lost much of its hi (red). One never knows if it will come back – maybe yes, maybe no. I’ve read online that generally when the color has gone, it’s not coming back. Good color requires good genes, quality food and low stress. I’ll see if the hi comes back – if not, Rome is off to the auction next year.

The rest of the koi are still doing fine in the upper pond. Lucky for them they weren’t part of the bunch being sent to the four winds. Only three more weeks until I will get to meet Natsumi, the shiro utsuri living in the mud ponds of Koi Acres. She might be living with these koi in a year.